The Little Dipper
by Justanotherspazzedoutfangirl
Summary: Dipper, the nephew of the human hating King Stan, is fascinated by all things human and when he falls for the human prince, Norman Babcock, he strikes a deal with the sea warlock Gideon. But with this deal comes with strings and Gideon is not all he seems.
1. Chapter 1

A mermaid flipped her pale yellow tail furiously, causing hundreds of bubbles to follow in her wake. She was swimming with such ferocity because she was late for the first scheduled tour of the day at the Mystery Shack. She saw a gaggle of giggling teenage girls and several other merfolk of all different colors and sizes and felt joy, realizing she had not missed the tour. "Sorry I'm late!" She said, panting as she swam near her bored looking friends.

"We've been waiting for, like, ever and the tour still hasn't started," her friend said unhappily.

"Tour was supposed to start 15 minutes ago," her other friend chimed in, staring at the sad looking entrance of the Mystery Shack, willing it to fly open. Then suddenly it did.

"Welcome to the Mystery Shack!" a rather old merman said, extending his arm, gesturing to the door he just threw open. "Come inside if you dare! Be amazed by the largest collection of human items anywhere!" The group of merpeople, with eyes wide open, openly stared at the old merman, but not because said merman was extraordinarily handsome (quite the opposite in fact) but because the merman, with a red tail with silver streaks in it and wearing a rather impressive fez, was the king of Gravity Falls. Stan Pines, or as his great niece and nephew knew him as, Grunkle.

Gravity falls was by the far the most odd out of all the merpeople's kingdoms. Located in the Bermuda, built in the shape of triangle it's said the King there is so greedy and is so morbidly fascinated with humans, he often stole all sorts of human items right from underneath the human's noses. This was all of course just gossip and had no evidence to back it up but that certainly didn't stop tourists from visiting this mysteries little kingdom to see if the rumors of the eccentric king were true. They doled out a ridiculous amount of seashells just to see, what they believed, were real, genuine human articles. Of course none of the things in the Mystery Shack ever belonged to a human. They were all half baked, things his assistant crab, Wendy, cooked up for him.

As the tourist gazed and gaped at every, obviously, fake thing Stan showed them, a young merboy, who was rearranging the overpriced glow in the dark rocks (70 dollars for a rock really Stan?), rolled his eyes in annoyance as he heard one of the tourists sharp intake of breath at the sight of another counterfeit human trinket. The said annoyed merboy was no other than Dipper Pines the nephew of the Con artist King Stan. This boy had brown eyes framed by long luxurious lashes (like boy's lashes, not a like a girl's Mabel!) and a pale blue tail. He wore a necklace with a blue pendent in the shape of tree and was a relatively pale boy (they live at the bottom of the ocean he was supposed be pale no matter what Mabel said) with somewhat messy, light brown hair that covered his forehead. Underneath those girly (shut up Mabel, shut up!) bangs of his he had a birthmark that formed into the constellation known as, by both merpeople and humans alike, the Little Dipper. It was ironic he be named after a thing you can only see on the surface yet be forbidden from even coming close to the surface. He had of course gone to the surface, multiple times, to see his seagull friend Soos. Not that anyone but his sister Mabel knew of this.

He was also a collector of human items; real human items, not that crude crap his uncle tried to pass off as authentic. The reason he even knew where any human things were, was because of the mysteries book he stumbled across when he was swimming in the kelp forest that surrounded Gravity Falls. It was worn and had a gold tail on the front with the number 3 in the middle of it. Dipper did not know who it belonged to and the author stopped in mid sentence as if something prevented him from writing anymore. Nonetheless the book was extraordinarily helpful. It showed him where hidden human artifacts were in Gravity Falls and boy, were there a lot! How the citizens of Gravity Falls managed to remain so ignorant about humans with tons of hidden human artifacts around them was still a mystery to Dipper. The only other person who knew about the human items Dipper collected was his twin sister Mabel who was currently barreling toward him with her pet sea pig Waddles.

"DIPPER YOU'LL NEVER GUESS WHAT I FOUND!" Mabel screamed into Dipper's ear even though he was very literally standing next to her. And now he was probably deaf.

"Jeez Mabel you don't have to scream in right next to you," Dipper said, a little irritated by his sister. "What did you find that was so important?"

Mabel was practically vibrating with excitement. Her long brown hair floated around her shoulders and moved up and down every time she did. Luckily her flower hairband stayed persistently still, as did her seashell bra which was the same color of her tail, bright pink. She looked like she was about to scream something but then, as if deciding something better, leaned close to Dipper.

"I found stuff, you know-" she leaned in close to his ear, "human stuff," she whispered, but if you know anything about Mabel you know how she whispers. At best she stage whispered.

"Shh Mabel!" Dipper told her as he looked

around the Shack to see if anyone had heard her but luckily no one had. "You need to be more careful when you mention-" his eyes swept the room again, looking for any eavesdroppers, "that stuff that you just mentioned. Anyway what did you find?"

Mabel's eyes lit up and she said "I found a real sunken ship!" Dipper cocked his head to the side, digesting this information. Then it him. A real sunken ship!

"Oh my Poseidon! Are you kidding me Mabel! Mabel if your joking I swear I'll-"

"I'm being serious here Dipper," Mabel huffed. "I found it when I was taking Waddles for his afternoon stroll." She said cuddling next to what may possibly be the ugliest creatures in all the seven seas. No offense to Waddles personally but the whole species of scotoplanes or, 'sea pigs' was pretty ugly.

"Well what are we waiting for!" Dipper exclaimed, grabbing a blue bag that Mabel had knit for him from behind the cashier's desk. He then grabbed Mabel's hand and tore out of the Shack, leaving the front door's wide open.

"Dipper I don't think this is such a good idea," Mabel said, looking around uneasily. The sunken ship was located in a very dark, dank place amid the kelp forest. The aura around the place was simply creepy and it gave Mabel goosebumps. "Maybe we should go back," she suggested while rubbing her arms in vain attempt to get rid the chills that accompanied this place. "Besides I hear there are sharks out here!" Mabel said nervously.

"Don't be such a guppy Mabel!" Dipper said running his fingers along the rotted side of the ship before letting his fingertips come to a stop at an old porthole. "If you're really that nervous about going in you can just stay outside and watch for sharks," he said, prying open the porthole before popping his head in and wiggling his body until he successfully slipped in.

"Yeah, I can do that. Stay outside and watch for shar- DIPPER WAIT FOR ME!" Mabel said before diving through the porthole and grabbing onto Dipper's arm.

As they swam deeper and deeper into the ship's hull it got darker and mustier until they reached a room with several tables overturned and several dirty white table cloths littering the floor. It had a massive bay window that allowed light to filter through the dust, casting a brown light on the room. Dipper looked around the dank room trying to imagine all the humans eating and laughing as the...the... damn what were those glowing things humans used to see in the dark? As dipper pondered this, a light ray fell across something lying on the floor and covered in dust, causing it to send a bright glare that temporarily blinded him.

Eagerly swimming toward it he picked it up and dusted it off to discover it looked like a mini version of Grunkle's triton, except it had four spears instead of three. As he examined it some more something else caught his eye from across the room and he quickly swam toward it. Picking it up, Dipper peered at the oddly shaped wooden object

"Isn't this just the most beautiful thing you've ever seen Mabel?" Dipper said, holding it up to the light. Then Dipper felt a sharp tug on his hand and suddenly he was being propelled out of the room.

"SWIM!" Mabel screamed and when Dipper looked back he saw the reason why. Coming toward them with open jaws was a great white shark. Dipper could still see the flesh of previous fish still stuck in between his teeth.

He and Mabel began to swim faster and faster until Dipper realized his left hand felt much lighter. Turning, he saw his blue bag had gotten caught on a piece of wood sticking out of the floor. Dipper wrenched his hand from Mabel's and turned around and started swimming toward the open jaws of the shark.

"Dipper just leave it!" Mabel screamed at him but he kept on persistently swimming toward the bag. He extended his arm out and grasped his bag and managed to snatch it to his chest milliseconds before the shark closed his jaws. Dipper maneuvered around the shark and started swimming toward the open porthole. Mabel, getting the message, began barreling toward the porthole as well but when she went through it she got temporarily stuck and in vain she tried wiggling through but couldn't. Dipper rammed into her tail and pushed her through then shimmed out of the hole as well.

The shark rammed through the ships rotted side, snapping his jaws dangerously close to the ends of their tails. They swam even faster until Dipper gestured toward Mabel to a hole on the top of an anchor, indicating they should swim through it. Mabel nodded, getting the message, and they both dove through the hole. The shark, seeing its meal opportunity, dove without thinking and got his fat head stuck in hole. Both Mabel and Dipper breathed out a sigh of relief and looked at the now hopeless looking, shark and cast him a look of derision. Dipper picked up his bag he dropped and began swimming toward the surface.

"You're nothing but a big meanie!" Mabel said, looking into the eyes of the trapped shark, while sticking out her tongue. The shark snapped his jaws at her and she let out a high pitched squeal and promptly swam toward Dipper, grabbing his arms.

Letting out a laugh he said, "you really are a guppy Mabel."

.

"Am not!"

"And now for the end of my tour, the amazing Dipper will show you his fabled birthmark and one of his wild tall tales...all for the great price of 45 seashells!" Stan said to the group of intrigued tourists. Opening the door to the main entrance of the Mystery Shack Stan extended his arms to show...nothing.

Stan looked around the room frantically trying to look for one of his best attractions, his nephew. The tourists behind him scoffed and snatched back their seashells.

"We came here to see the beautiful merboy with the birthmark! Since you don't have him, we're leaving." The unsatisfied tourists grumbled as they trudged out.

Never had Stan face turned so red.

.

"Soos!" Dipper said, the moment he broke the surface, waving his hand around.

"Yo little dude watssup?" Soos said, stepping down from his nest to greet his friends.

"Look what we got today!" Dipper said, holding up his blue bag of treasures. "We found a sunken human ship today and there was so much cool stuff in it!" Dipper said excitedly as he emptied the contents of his bag on Soo's rock.

"Found human stuff huh? Hmm let me see it," Soos said, bending down and examining the items closely. "Wow dude this stuff is, like, really cool. Oh man look at this," He said, picking up the fork and tilting it closer to both Mabel and Dipper. "This is a dinglehopper!" he exclaimed. "These little guys right here are what humans use to brush their hair. Give it a little twist here and then... Tada!" Soos said as hair turned into a bigger mess then his nest.

"A dinglehopper!" Dipper said breathlessly as he held the fork in his hand.

"What about this one?" Mabel said holding up the pipe.

"Woah I haven't seen this, in like forever. This, my little dudes, is a snarfblat." Soos said, holding the wooden pipe up.

Mabel and Dipper looked at each other and said "Wow!"

"This things were invented for entertainment back in the olden days when-" Soos began to say until he was cut off by Dipper.

"Entertainment!" Dipper said, smacking himself in the forehead "The end of the tour! Grunkle Stan's gonna kill me!" He exclaimed as he began throwing everything back in his bag. "Uh, I'm sorry, I've gotta go. Thank you Soos!" Dipper said, waving his hand before he and Mabel plunged under the water.

A dark figure looked at a yellow glowing orb in the middle of his room that depicted Dipper and Mabel swimming towards the Mystery Shack.

"Yessss" he said, prolonging the "s" sound, "hurry home my dear little boy. Wouldn't want to make your grunkle angry, would you?" The voice said before chuckling darkly.

"Do you know how much money I lost!?" Stan said angrily, sitting in his throne.

"Look I'm sorry,I was just-" Dipper began to apologize before he was cut off.

"Just getting wrapped up in one you're crazy daydreams! The entire tour was a complete disaster!"

"Hey! It's not Dippers fault! You see it went like this: Ah - well - first, ahh, this shark chased us - yeah - yeah! And we tried to - but we couldn't - and - grrrrrrrrr - and - and we - whoooaaaaaa - oh, and then we were safe. But then this seagull came, and it was this is this, and that is that, and -"

"Seagull! You went to the surface again! I told you never to do that again!" Stan said, now yelling at Dipper.

"You could have been seen by a human, a wild, crazy-"

"They're not wild or crazy! You make them sound like monsters!" Dipper said, feeling the need to stick up for humans.

"That's because they are monsters! They eat your friends, they steal my money-"

"But they don't realize their doing anything wro-"

"Regardless I don't want to see my only nephew end up as fish food?"

Dipper scoffed and said, "I'm sixteen years old for Poseidon's sake! I'm not a child anymore!"

"Don't take that tone of voice with me boy! You live in my ocean, you live by my rules!" Stan said angrily with a vein now popping of his neck.

"If you just listen to me-" Dipper tried pleading with him but to no avail.

"Not another word - and I am never, NEVER to hear of you going to the surface again. Is that clear?" Stan said harshly, glaring at Dipper. Dippers tersely nodded as his eyes began to water. He quickly swam out with Mabel in tow.

"Man that was intense," Wendy said sitting on Stan's crown.

"Hey." Stan's voice startled her. "You don't think that...that I was too hard on the kid right?" Stan said, uncharacteristically concerned.

"No way man! You got be strict on kids. I was pretty crazy as a kid and what I needed, and what dipper needs, is constant supervision." Said Wendy.

"You're right, he needs constant supervision!"

"Constant!"

"Someone to watch over him at all times,"

"At all times!"

"Someone like you could watch over him."

"Someone like... Me?" Wendy asked, confused.

"Yes, someone like you! And if you don't do it you're fired. Now go follow him!"


	2. Chapter 2

_"I'll tell you a tale of the bottomless blue and it's hey to the starboard, heave ho look out, lad, a mermaid be waitin' for you in mysterious fathoms below." _A sailor sang as he wiped the decks. A very round shaped, ginger colored, corgi happily tramped around the newly swabbed deck. He went up to the feminine figure in pink and dropped a dead fish at its delicate feet.

"Eugh!" The figure screamed at the offending offering. "Norman! Get your freaky little dog away from me!" A shrill voice demanded.

"Come here Neil! Come here boy!" Norman said beckoning the dog toward him. "He was just trying to show his love, Courtney." He said patting the dogs head. The blond named Courtney simply sniffed in a annoyance. Her face started to turn green before she leaned over the rails and emptied her stomach contents in the ocean.

"Ugh Norman!" She said as she leaned back up and lightly wiping her mouth with a silk handkerchief "Why would you choose a boat ride as your birthday wish? Why couldn't you have chosen something relaxing like a trip into town or getting the seamstress to make you ne-"

"I didn't choose do those things because those are the kind of things _you _like to do on your birthday." Norman pointed out while scratching behind Neil's ear. Ignoring Courtney's protests (that what she wanted was what everyone should want) Norman turned to the sailor still swabbing the deck and asked

"What was that song you were singing earlier?"

"I was singing the tale of the merfolk led by King Stan. Don't tell me you've never heard of King Stan lad!" The sailor said seeing the questioning look on Norman's face.

"Uh, no, sorry can't say that I have."

"Dear god! Wha' do ye teach this boy?" The sailor said turning toward Courtney and pointing a dirty finger at her accusingly.

"I teach him important and useful knowledge. Not fairy tales and nonsense." She said looking at the sailor distastefully. "Besides... The king always said he wanted Norman to be educated on facts not fiction." Courtney said going uncharacteristically quiet.

All the sailors on deck bowed their head respectively at the mention of their fallen king and Norman averted his eyes to the ground.

It had been 3 months since the tragic carriage accident that left the kingdom without their king and queen and left Norman and Courtney as orphans. Luckily Courtney had turned 18 before the incident so after their parents died she took over the kingdom. Well, in a sense. She herself could not officially rule because that honor was only allowed to the king's son, the prince. Courtney fought and screamed trying to break the rule but the king's will was ironclad and had no room for loopholes. Courtney realized that Norman was in no condition to rule the kingdom giving that the kingdom had only recently accepted his ability to talk to the dead about 6 months earlier. They were still uneasy around him and would not trust him if he decided to rule the kingdom. Courtney figured that if Norman were to get married to a respectable young lady then they would have to accept him as king, however her efforts so far have been futile. Normans rejected all the marriage offers been proposed. Courtney was extremely frustrated and saddened by this. In all honesty she could care less about the kingdom. She just wanted Norman to have someone to make him happy. Though she would never admit she missed seeing him smile. She sighed and went back to focusing on not getting sea sick again.

.

"I can't believe what a jerk he is!" Dipper exclaimed punching his sea sponge pillow. He was sitting with Mabel in their shared room and venting his anger. "He just yells and yells and make assumptions! Humans are nothing like he describes, nothing!" Dipper gives the pillow one final punch before collapsing on his bed and yelling into his pillow.

"There, there." Mabel said patting his shoulder in a sympathetic gesture "Want to go decorate the seaweed garden in glitter?" she asked enthusiastically. Dipper mumbled something inchorent into his pillow but Mabel was taking it as a negative.

"I know what will cheer you up! Lets go put the new things you found in your cave!" Mabel said smiling and practically bouncing on the bed. Dipper looked up at Mabel tentatively.

"Maybe that'll cheer me up." He agreed giving her a small smile.

"Of course it will! It always does." Mabel said happy to see the smile on her brother's face. Wendy watched them from the shadows and felt curiosity well up in her as she began to trail them. She felt guilty for spying on her friends but Stan really was worried about Dipper and he would definatly fire Wendy if she messed up again. Wendy tailed them inconspicuously (being a tiny crab had it's perks!) before they both stopped in front of a rather large stopped a little ways from them and watched, fascinated, as Dipper and Mabel tugged the rock to reveal a hidden passageway behind it. They both quickly swam in it and let the rock start to roll back to its original position. Wendy seized her opportunity and narrowly escaped the rock crushing her. Wendy's eyes widened without permission as she stared at the bevy of treasures before her. All around her were shelves of every human thing imaginable! She shook off her amazement and hide behind one of the many bulky objects on a nearby desk.

"You ok Dipper?" Mabel asked cautiously when she noticed Dipper restlessly fiddling with a human figurine.

"Why can't I just make him understand? If he could see what I see he would understand..." Dipper said before trailing off looking longingly at the figurines legs.

"_Look at this stuff,_

_Isn't it cool?_

_Wouldn't you think,_

_I'm an obsessive fool?_

_Wouldn't you think I'm the boy,_

_The boy who owns,_

_Everything?_

_Look at this cave,_

_Treasures unscathed,_

_How many items,_

_can all this contain?_

_Looking around here you'd say,_

_Hey,_

_This kid's got everything._

_I got hoo-hads and do-dads a plenty," _

Dipper pulled out a ratty old suitcase and opened to reveal hundreds of human trinkets,

_I got rift-rafts and nick-knacks to spare,_

_You want whatcha-ma-call-ems?"_

"Hah, how many?" Dipper asked Mabel jokingly

"_But it's alright,_

_Nothing new…_

_I need more…." _

Mabel looked at Dipper apprehensively as he traced the dolls legs. She already knew what he wanted but that didn't make it any less terrifying.

Unknowingly to the both of them, Wendy leaned forward in curiosity, eager to hear Dipper's dreams.

"_I wanna live,_

_where the people live,_

_I wanna watch, _

_Wanna watch them moving,_

_Strutting around on their-_

_What's that word?_

_Oh! Legs._

Wendy's eyes grew larger by the second. Dipper wanted to be a human? She had always known about his fascination with humans but she never thought it went so far as to want to become one himself.

_Swimming around, _

_You don't get very far._

_Legs are necessities,_

_For running,_

_And climbing,_

_Taking a walk down a-_

_It's on my tongue…_

_Road." _

Dipper looked quite pleased with himself for remembering the word.

"_Up where they play,_

_Up where they stay,_

_Up where they spend their days away,"_

Dipper began swimming faster toward the roof the cave as if he were intent on reaching the small opening, pouring sunlight in, in the ceiling.

He stopped and began to slowly sink toward the floor as he closed his eyes and let a smile tug on his lips as he imagined what it would be like to be a human.

"_Living carefree,_

_Wish it were me,_

_Part of their world._

_What would I give,_

_If I could live,_

_up on the surface._

_What would I pay,_

_if I could stay,_

_and bask in the sun." _

Dipper laid on the floor of the cave and let a sigh escape his lips. His eyes took on a pensive look as he gazed at the opening at the top of the cave.

"_Bet'cha up there,_

_They'd be aware,_

_That you don't, glare and curse your nephews,_

_Bright young scholars,_

_Sick of water,_

_I wanna be free."_

Dipper swam very suddenly with a passion in his eyes and began to sing even louder.

_And ready to view,_

_What the people do._

_Ask and inquire,_

_Fulfill my desires,_

_Like what's a light,_

_and why does it-_

_What's the word?_

_Glow?_

_When can I go?_

_Out of this place, _

_Into the world so very unknown?_

Dipper swam toward the very top of the cavern and began to reach one of his hands through the small hole as if trying to grasp his very desire.

_Living carefree,_

_Wish it were me,_

_Part of their world._

His last note exuded dolefulness as he slowly sank to floor. He let a exhale as he cast his eyes downward and his shoulders hunched over.

Mabel may not completely understand Dipper's fascination with humans but she hated to see her brother in pain. She reached out a tentative hand but retracting it before it made contact with him. What could she say? She didn't understand his longing to be human at all, to be honest she thought being a mermaid was great! She couldn't, for the life of her, understand why Dipper so desperately wanted to be a human. That was a lie. She understood perfectly fine why he wanted to become a human (he just gave her an entire list of reasons) she just simply didn't _understand_ how Dipper was so fascinated by the very beings who kill their friends.

Mabel never told Dipper any of this because how she felt didn't really matter (up to a certain point). She knew Dipper didn't understand why she loved waddles so much and she knew he would get annoyed when Candy and Grenda spent the night but he sucked it up because they were twins. Regardless of how the other felt they would always stick together, no matter what.

She reached her hand out again and just she was about to come into contact with his shoulder a loud bang came from the corner of the cavern. They both whipped their heads toward the sound and were shocked to find Wendy entangled in string and cursing loudly.

"W-wendy what are you doing here!" Dipper exclaimed sounding more nervous than questioning.

"What am _I _doing here? Dude, what are you doing here!" Wendy shouted as she tried to desperately get free of the string that was binding her legs.

Dipper quickly swam toward her and gently unknotted the string that was hindering her. He picked her up in his hands and brought her to his face.

"Oh Wendy please please please" he began in desperate tone "please don't tell Grunkle! I'll do all your chores for a month, i'll take the blame for your pranks, i'll put in double time at the shack and give you all my tips just _please_ don't tell Stan about my cave!" Dipper offered her up anything he could possibly think of that would make her keep quiet about what she had found.

"Dipper! I get that your into human stuff, like that's cool whatever, but this!" She said gestering to one of the multiple shelves filled with human items. "This is insane! How many dangerous situations did you have to put yourself into to get this crap? And I bet you were seeing Soos every time you got something so he could identify it!" Wendy said suddenly getting a little dizzy from thinking of all the times Dipper must have gone to the surface. All the close calls he must have faced, all the barely misses that would, if he had been only a little unluckier, cost him his life.

"Wendy I know what i'm doing is stupid, you don't think I realize that? I just...I don't know I just can't stop." Dipper said quietly looking at Wendy with pleading eyes. "Please just don't tell Grunkle."

Wendy looked at him unable to tear herself away from his sorrowful gaze. She sighed and knew she was making a big mistake by saying

"Alright."

"Alright?" Dipper repeated confused

"Alright! I...I won't tell Stan." Wendy said a little exasperated, probably at herself.

"Awesome! Thank you, thank you, thank you!" He said squeezing her into a hug.

Mabel let out the breath she didn't realize she had been holding. She definitely didn't want to know what Grunkle Stan would have done if he found out about Dipper's hiding place.

Suddenly the soft light that had been tinkling in had been cut off and covered in a dark shadow. They all looked toward the small opening on the roof to see a hulking object obscuring the way.

"What's that?" Dipper said already swimming toward the exit to investigate.

"Uh Dipper I don't think that's such a good idea." Mabel said already knowing what her brother wanted to do.

"Ya I second that. We don't what's up there." Wendy said siding with Mabel in an effort to keep Dipper from going to the surface.

"Well we'll never know unless we see!" He said moving the rock to the side and began to swim eagerly toward the surface.

Mabel and Wendy both glanced at one another from the side of their before doing a synchronized a sigh and swimming after Dipper.

* * *

Credit to song goes to colorfully minded

colorfullyminded . tumblr


	3. Chapter 3

Untranslatable words and Norman and Dipper finally meet!

10 points to whoever can spot the WTNV reference.

* * *

As night fell and the sky became mostly void with scatters of stars and Prince Norman's party was in full swing. Courtney sat on the side lines and looked on at the rowdy sailors singing song in mirth with a veins pumping more rum than blood. Norman seemed perfectly at ease with the drunken sailors, even smiling when one stumbled over himself in drunken stupor. Courtney simply wrinkled her nose at the now fallen sailor and dutiful ignored the lucid rumors of fireworks on board (what did these sailors think? Of course they have fireworks it's the princes birthday for gods sake... Idiots) and decided to unveil her present which was, obviously, superior to all the cheap trinkets the sailors made for Norman.

"Attention gentle...men." Courtney said faltering slightly when one of the sailors burped at smiled happily to himself.

" If you would please direct your attention to me I would like to give Prince Norman his present!" She said with a small flourish of her hand. She strode over to a rather large sheet covering a lumpy object.

"Ta Da!" She said ripping off the sheet to reveal a giant marble statue of... Norman.

Norman couldn't help but cringe at the obnoxious thing. Not only has he never made that expression of pure arrogance and self satisfaction but he had one foot atop a Skeleton and his right hand brandish a sword out pointing it toward whoever was viewing the piece. Even Neil edged away from the statue, wary of it.

"Oh wow Courtney this is um...I mean its really... I wasn't expecting this." Norman finished lamely.

"Oh I know you weren't." She said with a smug look on her face obviously already mentally congratulating herself for a job well done.

"Well... Lets start setting off those fireworks!" Norman said trying to divert all attention away from the gaudy statue.

The sky lit up brilliantly with greens and blues and the void became too small.

.

"I'm all for breaking Stan's rules and all guys but this seems like a bad idea." Wendy said futilely trying to convince Dipper to not go investigate the ship.

"I'll be five minutes Wendy, no one will see me." Dipper said with a dismissive wave of his hand before he began swimming toward the ship.

He quickly swam up to the side of the ship before gently pulling himself and sitting on a small ledge. He let out a small breath, preparing himself for what he might see when he peered over the edge of the railing. He had never been so close to a humans before. When he finally plucked up the courage to look he was met with a wondrous view. Humans everywhere! One was playing a snarfblart (but no sounds was coming out?) and another seemed to be wobbling around in a funny fashion, jerking his legs to and fro. The fireworks illuminated the sky brilliantly and cast everything in a different color. Dippers eyes were darting about frantically trying to drink in everything in one big gulp.

"Neil, come over here buddy!"

Dippers eyes stopped darting.

A human boy picked up a smaller, hairy human and laughed as it licked his face.

If Dipper could be lured by siren song the songs would sound like this humans laugh.

This human was... beautiful. Dipper immediately thought of one of the words he read when he was in the forbidden section of the library that held all the human books. Koi no yokan, the sense one has upon meeting another person that they will fall in love with. His pale blue tail stopped its constant twitching and all seventeen of his hearts stopped beating for a moment.

"Yo wassup dude?" Soos said flapping next to Dipper's face.

"Woah what! Soos where did you come from!" Dipper said with his voice becoming unnaturally high at the end of his sentence.

"Uh I came from my nest to see if any of these humans would feed me. You ok dude?" Soos said looking concerned at Dipper's startled face.

"I wasn't looking at anyone! I mean anything! I mean-"

"Wow dude look at that human!" Soos said pointing a feathers arm toward Norman.

"I don't think he's handsome or anything! I mean objectively speaking yes but I mean I don't find him attractive because you know he's a human and i'm a merman and thats just crazy right!" His voice cracked at the end of the sentence and Dipper thought he would die. Soos simply gave him a odd side look and said

"Well I guess but he's pretty small and slobbery."

Just then winds began to whip around violently and clouds cover stars and began to rumble ominously. The boat began to sway violently and knocked Dipper off into the choppy sea.

Aboard the ship was chaos. Sailors, suddenly sober, were running around trying to desperately save their ship.

One of the masses fell on the box of fireworks and set the deck ablaze. The captain quickly ordered everyone to the escape boats but some men were just diving off the side of the boat.

Norman managed to wrangle a frantic Courtney in the life boat but as they were being lowered he heard the urgent barking of Neil.

"Norman you mustn't go back!" Courtney screamed desperately clinging onto his arm, nails embedding into his skin. Norman shook her off and jumped aboard the flaming ship. Following the distressed yapping of Neil's bark he found him cowering in a corner untouched by the flames. Grabbing the corgi Norman ran back to the boat but finding his way blocked by new rampant flames. Making a split decision choice Norman threw Neil to the life boat where he, miraculously, landed. With adrenaline pumping in his veins and Courtney's screams ringing in his ears.  
When he hit the water he realized what a bad idea it was. Norman was not a strong swimmer and the waves were merciless. He struggled to keep his head above water and his last sight before blacking out was a sliver of pale blue.

.

Dipper saw Normans head go under water and shot towards him immediately. Swimming faster than he thought he could he grabbed him by the shoulders and started pulling him towards the surface. He was struggling under Norman's weight but he saw a flash of pink and Norman felt inexplicably lighter and Dipper realized, with relief, Mabel was helping him save Norman. They both brought his head above water and began swimming toward the nearby beach.

Panting they set Norman on the beach and Dipper quickly pulled himself up on the beach to lay next to Norman. Touching his ice cold forehead Dipper looked on Norman worriedly.  
"Wow, man, what happened?" Soos asked flying up looking at the unconscious Norman. Ignoring him Dipper asked

"Is he... Is he alive?" fear evident in his voice.

Soos waddled towards his foot and and pressed his face in the arch of his foot. His face was disheartened as he said

"I'm sorry but I don't hear a heartbeat."

"No look! He's breathing!" Mabel exclaimed pointing at his rising chest from her position in the shallow water.

Norman began to cough violently, heaving the water from his lungs. His eyelids fluttered open to see Dipper's face, illuminated by the setting sun.

"Am I dead? Are you an Angel?" Norman asked disoriented. Dipper blushed violently, blinking in rapid succession.

"No i'm not a, um, no" He said flustered that the human thought him to be an angel. He purposefully ignored Mabel's squeals of excitement over Norman's confusion.

"My name is Dipper and I guess, I um, we saved you from drowning." Dipper said losing his words staring into Normans eyes.

Norman looked at Dipper a bit confused, trying to understand what was happening to him when his eyes suddenly widened.

"Your forehead it's, it's glowing!" Norman exclaimed gaping at the Dipper.

"My birthmark?" Dipper asked touching his forehead. His eyes widened

"Oh, well you see,um my um birthmark" dipper said stammering a bit as he lifted his bangs and showed Norman his birthmark.

"The Big Dipper! That's where you got your name!" Norman exclaimed leaning to look at the glowing birthmark. He then felt something slimy unfurl on his bare feet and when he looked down he screamed.

"Your feet! I mean you don't have any!" Norman said gesturing wildly to Dippers tail. He tried sitting up abruptly before Dipper pressed a hand to his chest and made him stay laying down.

"You need to rest you almost died." Dipper insisted. Norman nodded his head, because if a beautiful glowing merboy told you something it was usually true, before stealing another glance at Dipper's tail. Seeing Normans curious glance Dipper's tail naturally curled at the ends, insecure by the sudden attention.

"Sorry for being so shocked I just, I've never meet a merman before. I didn't know they existed." Norman said after realizing it may have been just a tad rude to feel so startled by someone's appearance. Dipper looked at him, surprised, and felt his heart melt, just a little.

"Oh it's ok." Dipper said laughing a bit nervously.

"So your forehead glows and you have a tail, anything else I should know?" Norman asked a bit humorously still a little dazed from his excursion and the dream like situation.

"Only that my birthmark doesn't always glow, it's only supposed to glow when I, well, never mind." Dipper said breaking off quickly, embarrassed.

"What is it?" Norman asked now genuinely curious. Dipper blushed slightly as he said

"It's just an old fable but they say... they claim that my birthmark will start to glow when imeetmytruelove." Dipper said hurriedly before he started blushing brilliantly.

"Oh" was all Norman said before a blush began to set on his cheeks.

"But you know crazy fables say a lot weird stuff." Dipper said trying to somehow make this situation less awkward. A pregnant pause set in.

"Thank you, for helping me" Norman said suddenly. "I mean it truly, thank you. If there's any way I could ever rep-"

"No no! That won't be problem." Dipper said suddenly waving his hands.

"Please!" He said struggling to sit up "I must give you some reward" He insisted shifting closer to Dipper.

"I really don't need one, I'm just glad your alright." Dipper blurted out before he could stop himself. Norman blinked at him owlishly before, the ever persistent, blush silently crept in on his face.

Without either boy realizing it they suddenly shifted towards one another. All Dipper could see was how the sun shined on the stray droplets of water cling to Normans eyelashes and all Norman could see was creamy white skin burned with a brightness of a star. They were so close their breath mingled and their eyelids began to drop. So close they brushing lips

until

"BARK!" Neil happily ran up to Norman and began to eagerly lick his face, ever so happy to see his master again.

"Oh Norman!" Courtney said with a voice tinged with relief. She ran to his side before dropping to her knees and giving him a bone crushing hug.

"Do you realize you practically gave me an aneurysm!" She said angrily after she stopped fussing over him.

"Sorry" He said sheepishly.

"How are you even alive?" She asked checking his body for any outward injuries.

"Oh it's because Dipper saved m-" Norman said turning around to thank his fish friend once more but realizing he was gone.

"Who saved you?" Courtney asked skeptically looking around for another human.

"Dipper! He was a merman with a blue tail and a pine tree necklace and a glowing forehead!" He said gesturing widely craning his neck to look around the are, desperate to find him.

"Hmmm. I think you've been in the sun just a bit too long Norman." Courtney said lifting him up to a standing position.

"Lets just get you home" Courtney put one of his arms behind her neck and began to support him on the trek to the castle. Norman reluctantly went but all the while kept his eyes wide open, searching.

.

Dipper watched him from behind a rock in the shallow water. He was looking so intently at the retreating figures he gave a start when he heard

"Oh Dipper what ever are we going to do with you" Mabel asked exasperatedly shaking her head at him.

"You know we couldn't be seen Mabel! Besides he thinks I was just some sort of water logged fantasy." Dipper said resting his head on hands and looking longingly to the shore.

"He would know you were definitely real if you actually went through and kissed him" Mabel said giving Dipper a sly smile. He heated up and said

"We didn't, we weren't going to-"

"Oh shut up I totally saw you guys!" Mabel said her voice going a little high pitched. "So when you going to see him again?" She asked excitedly.

"I thought you didn't like humans." Dipper said a little skeptical of her curiosity.

"I'm not but you guys were just so cute!" She said unable to contain joy over her brother finally finding his true love.

"What! No we weren't!" Dipper said trying to prevent her sister from going into one her 'fangirl' modes.

"Sorry dude but you kinda were." Wendy said chiming in unable to keep the smile off her face. Dipper wanted the marina trench to swallow him whole.

"Uh shouldn't you guys be at the mystery shack?" Soos asked flying onto Dipper's shoulder.

"Oh crap your right we gotta go!" Wendy said already frantically swimming to the shack. Mabel and Dipper soon followed her after saying goodbye to Soos, of course.

.

"Oh well isn't this just splendid! He's in love with a human, and a prince at that!" Gideon said leering into his inky black ball that showed Dipper swimming.

"Stan will love this, besides the boy will make a lovely addition to my garden."

* * *

Koi No Yokan (Japanese): It can defined the sense can have upon first meeting another person that the two of them are going to fall in love. In other words, it is the knowledge one has that he/she is going to fall in love with another person. This differs from the idea "love at first sight" in that it does not imply that the feeling of love exists, rather it refers to the knowledge that a future love is inevitable.

I'm a sucker for beautiful untranslatable words and i thought it was perfect for Norman and Dipper. I always imagined Dipper to know he was going to fall in love with Norman but he wouldn't be like Ariel in the whole "love at first sight" thing. Koi No Yokan described the feeling perfectly. Plus the whole glowing birthmark would have tipped him off to that too.

The seventeen hearts thing was mentioned in the deep end by mermando claiming all merpeople had seventeen hearts so I just kinda went with it.

Sorry for all the irregular updates but I have a busy school life right now

6 Classes (one of which is AP European history which is the hardest AP class at my school), JV tennis, soccer, softball, relay 4 life committee member, interact club, national honor society, sunshine siblings, French Club, goal of 200 hours of community service this year, and my need for straight A's to get invited to the california scholarship federation as a sophomore, and my household chores. But hey! Who's complaining (i only have mental breakdowns every other day)

But enough about me lets talk about the story! So colorfullyminded wrote me an amazing rendition of "Poor unfortunate souls" that i couldn't fit in this chapter but will definitely be in the next chapter...probably...definitely...maybe. We'll see.

Go check her out on tumblr! .com

Also tell me what you thought of Dipper and Normans interaction cause that part was a bitch for me to write. Honestly I rewrote like 5 times because I never thought they were in character. Also did I make them blush a lot cause I feel like I made them blush too much in their interaction (as you can see I am very secure in my writing skill).

Till next time! Hasta Luega! (and, you guessed it, i'm taking Spanish this year too)


End file.
